The Freedom to Practice One's Religion Is a Constitutional Right

Controversy reigns in debate over the building of Cologne's new mosque. If the majority population stands in the way of religious freedom, it must bear responsibility, too, for the failure of integration, says Peter Philipp

There were no Muslims living in the local area when Prince Elector of the Palatinate Karl Theodor decided to build a mosque in the garden of his summer residence in the German town of Schwetzingen at the end of the 18th century. For him it was simply chic.

But now, it seems, chagrin has replaced chic as far as the citizens of modern day Cologne are concerned, with many up in arms over a proposal to construct a large mosque in their city. This, despite the fact the Rhine metropolis is home to around 65,000 Turks and the mosque is first and foremost intended for them.

A whole new dimension

So Cologne has joined other German cities such as Berlin and Munich where there have also been protests against the building of mosques.

In Cologne, however, the debate has taken on a whole new dimension. With local politicians having long since given the nod for construction work to begin, stirrings of unrest became apparent when the populist "Pro Cologne" group raised the temperature by claiming that a feeling of "alienation" would be engendered in the area of the city where the building was to be erected.

Then, of all people, the Jewish writer and journalist Ralph Giordano, usually a powerfully eloquent critic of intolerance and racism, joined the fray, his voice becoming the most prominent of those raised in opposition to the building. Most people, he thought, were against the building, but their opinions had not been asked.

"Human penguins"

In any case, integration had failed and the mosque would do as little to help it as the sight of what he rather crassly referred to as "human penguins".

If an educated man like Giordano can react in this way, one wonders just how deep-rooted such aversion and rejection might be among "ordinary" people. Some, it seems, have yet to grasp the fact that other religious communities exist besides those of the Christian churches, and that these are now a significant minority, in Germany as elsewhere, with all of the rights that a modern constitutional state confers upon its citizens.

The right to practice their religion in an appropriate place of worship and not in some dingy backyard, makeshift meeting rooms in the industrial suburbs being part of this.

The Mosque discussion is not to be confused with the debate about headscarves or about Muslim women's rights. Mixing these issues together is facile and such arguments tend to be laced with the sort of populist clichés that more readily win a sympathetic ear than outright rejection would do. No less absurd is the argument that the people have not been consulted.

"It takes two"

It is not the state but the religious community itself that is responsible for the building of places of worship in Germany. Of course, the usual planning procedures have to be gone through, but the people are not consulted on the building of Catholic or Protestant churches either.

This is part and parcel of religious freedom as it is practiced in Germany. Those who want this kind of decision to be made on the basis of a show of hands are certainly not doing democracy any favours. And when insult is added to intended injury we really have reached the bottom of the barrel. With the discussion reduced to such a level, the criticism that it is the immigrants who are resisting integration doesn't hold any water either.

It takes two to integrate. The majority population must want it as much as the immigrants. Those who refuse the right to freedom of religion are also refusing integration, and for that it is they who must bear the responsibility.

Peter Philipp

Translated from the German by Ron Walker

Qantara.de

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